


something so magic about you

by narryblossom



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Bottom!Harry, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, Human!Niall, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythical!Harry, Strangers to Lovers, Top!Niall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:31:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narryblossom/pseuds/narryblossom
Summary: “I’m Niall.”“It’s a pleasure to know you, Niall.”The oddity of the expression struck Niall at the same time that Harry’s eyes did, peering over his shoulder, again wide and innocent like they'd only just seen each other for the first time.(Creatures like Harry were supposed to be folklore, but as Niall learned on that fateful day in July as the sun was starting to glare down the western sky, sometimes the stories were true.)





	something so magic about you

**Author's Note:**

> An au in which Harry is a forest sprite and Niall had never believed in the stories of them seducing passerbys until it happened to him.
> 
> (This is odd, don't take it too seriously.)

Niall grew up with stories of the magical entities that lived in Ireland-- his grandparents used to have a book in Gaelic that they would read to him at bedtime, and though he can’t speak it anymore as the usage became less common in his county, he remembered clearly the visions of fairies, merrows, and dogs that barked omens. Of course, he learned when he got older that fairies were just imagination, merrows were only pieces of driftwood that drunken sailors _swore_ were something living, and dogs barked at everything, it was up to humans only to decide what the sounds meant.

Niall and his housemate, Louis, lived in a cottage nestled in the woods just outside of town-- their personal drive was longer than the road into the city, and on his bike Niall could get to and from work in less than ten minutes. Louis would sometimes make dinner and manage to time its completion perfectly to when Niall walked in the door-- it amazed him every time, and if Louis weren’t straight, Niall had considered that he’d let himself fall in love with him.

The summer sun was relentless in the peak of its arch as Niall peddled languidly toward home. His bag from work sat comfortably in the basket ahead of him along with a plastic grocery bag holding a few bits and bobs they were running low on around the house; it rustled steadily in the wind, changing slightly in pitch as Niall turned off of the main road onto his private drive, only to return to its steady white noise as he again gained speed.

The space between his home and work never changed-- Niall could count on the road staying smooth, the trees staying where they are, and he knew where every pothole in the dirt tire tracks to his home sat. On this day, Niall noticed immediately upon passing the large, smooth tree stump half way down his drive that something was different. He could see, up ahead, the dark forest parting to the clearing which held his home, but rather than continue just a minute or two more, Niall back peddled to the spot he’d seen the man.

His back was tanned and bare-- when he turned his head to delicately gaze over his shoulder at Niall, his eyes, wide and innocent like a deer, came to life with flecks of gold and deep greens that matched the forest; a perfect compliment to the golden tinge of his skin, glowing in the streams of sunlight coming through the trees.

Niall had to swallow his heart back into his chest. There was something so enticing-- so _ethereal_ \-- about him. Niall _wanted_ him.

Niall opened his mouth to call out to the mysterious man in the forest, but as the stranger turned away and stood, Niall’s noticed his nakedness and the words escaped him, replaced instead by a choking gasp. Niall overcame the shock in seconds when the stranger started walking into the trees. He let his bike fall into the dirt path as he swung his leg over and took a staggering step towards the stranger. He followed several paces behind the man, into the woods, on a path so easy to trek that it felt almost as if the flora were bowing to them.

They stepped down into the banks of a creek minutes later, water coming up to their mid-thighs. The other man rested his hands atop the water’s surface, just wetting his palms as though he were petting the water. Niall wanted to speak again, but his mouth moved with no payoff. As if the stranger had heard Niall’s poor attempt, he turned with careful calculation to face Niall, leaving the water almost undisturbed somehow.

Then Niall was staring into the forest in his partner’s eyes, and as he came closer, Niall gazed at his soft mounded breasts and the gentle curve of his belly and hips. He was a man, Niall was sure, but the femininity of him was equally undeniable.

Their hands were on each other in an instant, and Niall’s pants were dragged down into the water. The blood rushed to his head, sounded like roaring water in his cheeks, making him feel as wild and free and a coursing river or breaking waves.

Maybe that’s why his partner ended up spread out on the muddy banks of the creek.

They didn’t say anything with words, and maybe they should have, but Niall knew well enough that feeling the other man’s soft palm wrap around his cock and pull it towards his arsehole meant _do it_.

So Niall did.

He slid in easily as if the man below him had spent some time fingering himself open before Niall had arrived-- if he had, Niall, in the moment, could have understood why; there was something animalistic about fucking a perfect stranger in the woods, something chokingly hot like Niall couldn’t _believe_ he was doing this thing from his wildest dreams. He definitely _felt_ wild when teeth and nails grounded him in the moment, pulling guttural moans from deep within him.

Niall loved how dirty the sex was, literally and figuratively and everything between. A _stranger_ in the _woods_ , no words at all, _nothing_ ; the moaning, groaning, scratching, biting, loud sounds of his balls smacking against the other guy’s ass filling the air around them, the cum dripping out of the man’s hole and the cum pooled on his belly at the end.

Niall fell backwards with a great sigh, sinking into the clear water, rinsing the sweat off his skin and making what dry clothes he had completely soaked. When he resurfaced, his partner was standing up carefully, slowly dragging a wet hand down his stomach to clear his mess away.

Niall’s high faded when the man started to turn away-- there was mud smeared all over his backside from his shoulders to his thighs.

Niall’s cheeks burned, suddenly embarrassed by the things they’d done now that his rational mind was back in control.

“Hey,” he stuttered, “do you want me to… can I help you wash that off…?”

A nod, silent, and almost still.

Niall fought his way free from his clothes so that he, too, stood naked in the water. He cupped his hands below the surface and brought the water up, pouring it down the other’s back. He dragged his hands through the mud, felt like he was only rubbing it in for a while, but the man was so patient as the dirt slowly dissolved and fell away.

“What’s your name?” Niall finally asked when the water falling from his partner’s shoulders finally ran clear. He didn’t have to know he was clean, though, not yet as Niall kept relishing in the feeling of his hot skin beneath his fingertips.

“Harry.” His voice was soft, edging on a purr.

“I’m Niall.”

“It’s a pleasure to know you, Niall.”

The oddity of the expression struck Niall at the same time that Harry’s eyes did, peering over his shoulder, again wide and innocent like they'd only just seen each other for the first time.

“You too,” Niall stuttered back.

Harry turned his head, leaving Niall again to look at his back.

Niall knew he had to leave-- Louis would be worried sick if he wasn't home soon, and if he saw Niall’s bike abandoned in the middle of their driveway, he'd probably panic.

He didn't want to go, though, and it took him another couple of rounds of rubbing Harry's arms and shoulders then down his back before he was ready to stop.

He couldn’t be sure why he did it, but Niall leaned down and pressed a fleeting kiss onto Harry's shoulder while letting his hands slide down his toned arms, dropping into the water after their fingers brushed together.

“I should go.”

Harry tilted his head back completely until his face touched the sky. Niall looked up, too, and all he saw was deep blue, and the sun was behind them.

x

Harry stood around whilst Niall gathered his clothes from where he'd strung them across low hanging branches at the water’s edge. They were still sufficiently wet, but after climbing out of the stream, Niall managed to pull them on, glad that his encounter was so close to home-- having to peddle very far in wet clothes would surely irritate his sensitive skin.

Niall followed Harry back to the spot they'd first seen one another. Harry, perching himself on the fallen tree he'd sat on before, looked up at Niall through his lashes and licked his lips, already deep pink and inviting.

For the second time, their actions were unspoken as Niall kneeled in the spot between Harry's legs, careful not to press too close to his still exposed cock. Harry's left hand rested against the side of Niall's neck, pulling him in as he laid down on the stump. Niall hovered just above him, licking into his mouth slowly while Harry's hand slid from his neck to wrap around his back and hold him in place. Niall knew that Harry was tempting him, suggesting _maybe stay a while longer_ , but God forbid Niall was any later getting home-- Louis would have called the town police, probably, and then Niall and Harry would have either gotten arrested for fucking in public (well, on private property, but in no type of shelter), or somehow worse still, Niall would have been embarrassed to hell and back being caught with his dick out in front of someone who was surely a cousin or might as well have been and who would have never let him live it down.

Niall convinced Harry to let him go over the course of a few minutes, pulling back bit by bit until their lips finally broke.

“Goodbye, Niall,” Harry breathed against the stubble of his chin.

Niall brushed his lips over the tip of Harry's nose a final time, drawing back just after to stand on his feet once more.

“Bye Harry.”

Harry slowly sat upright, head and eyes turning to follow Niall as he picked up his bike and swung his leg over.

Niall didn't ask if they'd see each other again. He wondered, but couldn't bring himself to let the words out.

He peddled away without looking over his shoulder.

x

As soon as Niall stepped in the door, Louis was on him.

“Niall _James_ Horan _,_ where have you been?” There was a playful tone to his voice, and an accent unlike his own but something similar enough to Niall’s own mother as he pulled out Niall’s middle name to scold him.

Niall dropped his work bag by the front door and kicked off his shoes; he considered going straight to his bedroom to change, but Louis' head was already poking out of the kitchen doorway.

“Wait, what the fuck?” he asked in his normal voice. “Why are you all wet?”

Niall stares unblinking at Louis, challenging his question with silence. What was he supposed to say?

“You look… like you’ve… Niall, seriously, where were you?”

“There’s a nice creek about halfway up the drive,” he murmured, passing Louis to drop their groceries in the kitchen and dart away to his room. Again, though, he couldn't make it past as Louis blocked the doorway.

“Tell me you didn’t, Niall. Oh, fuck’s sake, you _did,_ didn’t, you?” Louis braced both hands on his hips to take up more space. He still wasn't big enough to fill the doorway-- they were both pretty thin and Niall could have squeezed past if he _really_ wanted to.

Niall didn't, though; he leaned his back against the worktop’s edge and crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands into the space between his biceps and his sides. The feeling of the still wet fabric rubbing against itself was cold and Niall struggled to fight off a shiver.

“What are you on about, Lou? You got a fever or something, should I call El--”

“A sprite, Niall! You were tricked, weren’t you?! I _knew_ the stories were true, I always feel like I’m being watching going up the damn drive.”

“Louis,” Niall began, raising his eyebrows and pausing pointedly to see if Louis would laugh and say he was only kidding.

He didn’t, though.

“A sprite? Like, the little forest faeries? _That’s_ what you think I was doing?”

“Not faeries, Niall, _sprites_. It’s different,” Louis said calmly, matter-of-factly, before returning to berating. “You fucked one, didn’t you?!”

“Why should that be any of your business?” Niall narrowed his eyes and dug his fingers into his ribs to keep himself down. He couldn’t explain why he was so defensive all of a sudden-- this wasn’t him at all. (Maybe he’d realized his own mistake already. Maybe not.)

“Becaus--”

“No, actually, you know-- it’s _not_ your business. I saw a guy, yeah. Not a fuckin’ faerie or a sprite or whatever, he was a _person_ , I can assure you of that.”

“Niall, they _seem_ like people, but--”

“Fuck’s sake, mate,” he laughed, rolling his eyes. “Get off it. None of that shite’s real, yeah?”

Louis stared Niall down as he pushed past and finally made his way out of the kitchen.

“Don’t say I didn’t tell you when it steals your energy, Niall,” Louis called, “you’ll end up a sprite, too! Or something… like that...”

Niall’s neutral expression turned to a complete frown when his bedroom door closed behind him. He made quick work of removing his clothes, and once they were hung up to dry, he sat at his desk in only his new pants.

His fingers hesitated above the keys of his laptop, twitching with anticipation. What would he search that wouldn’t make him sound crazy?

“Is the guy I fucked in the woods a sprite?” No.

“Sprites in Ireland?” That would have only gotten him results about the drink, probably.

“Are sprites real?” No, no, no-- conspiracy theories had always made Niall’s head hurt.

He settled with “forest sprite creature” to find out if there was any possibility that Harry was one of them.

No, he concluded. No way. Sprites _were_ like faeries, according to the two websites Niall looked at. They were little creatures that kept the forest healthy and happy and there’s no _way_ Harry was one of them.

(If Niall had only looked at the conspiracy websites he’d know what he was getting into.)

x

Harry wasn’t there on the fallen tree stump when Niall went to work the next morning, nor when he came home. He wasn’t there the day after, or the next, and when Niall went to chest the post on Saturday, he wasn’t there then, either.

 _Couldn’t be a faerie,_ Niall thought, _faeries are always around._

Niall had pretty much forgotten about his encounter with Harry by the time he showed up again in the same spot at the same time six days later.

Niall did the same on this day as he did the first time-- pedaled too far, then backtracked until he could get a good look at the mysterious figure.

“Hey,” he sighed, keeping his hands on the handlebars so as to have something to occupy them.

“Hello, Niall,” Harry replied softly, resting his chin on his shoulder as he peered back at him. “Care to join me?”

Niall said nothing more as he dropped his bike at the edge of the drive and followed Harry off into the woods again. The path that he could never find on his days alone suddenly opened again, and this time Harry bent over the boulder at the creek’s edge while Niall fucked him, letting out these glorious high-pitched whines that Niall wished he could store in his memory.

“Are we gonna do this often?” Niall asked, floating along the water’s surface after the fact. They were in such a position so that if Niall were to turn his head to the left, Harry’s cock would be inches from his face. (Not that he minded, though-- he had to admit that it was one of the prettiest dicks he’d ever seen.)

“Mm,” Harry hummed, drawing his hands over his own chest. Niall watched as the water on his hands covered his body, making his skin glow under the evening sun.

“Gorgeous,” Niall breathed, not too sure if it actually came out or not. Harry didn’t react at first, but as Niall’s stare continued, the corners of Harry’s lips quirked up in a way that made the rest of his smile look pouty and sultry.

“We may,” he said softly, ignoring all of the rest of Niall’s questions.

“I better get going then,” Niall sighed eventually. His eyes had stayed on Harry for however long they rested there, unable to look away.

Niall wasn’t sure how long he had been there or how late he’d be home when Harry pulled him to his feet and into his arms for a goodbye snog, but he didn’t exactly care. Harry’s tongue was positively _divine_.

Niall had been smart enough to take his kit off before engaging Harry on the second time they met, so when they finally came out of the creek, he pulled on his dry clothes and made his way to where he’d left his bike.

And thus a pattern emerged. Niall didn’t notice it at first, but by their 4th or 5th meeting, Niall began predicting correctly when Harry would appear. It was every six days, thus usually a weekday, but there were occasions when he’d lie to Louis to sneak out of the house in the evening on a Saturday or Sunday night in to find his lover near the water.

They never did much talking. Most of the vocal sounds Niall got out of Harry were moans and whines but occasionally, on some of the weekend rendezvous’s, Niall could stick around for a second round and have Harry spilt on his cock, saying his name in plea for more.

He didn’t tire of it; in fact, he got addicted to it, becoming anxious by the morning of the 5th or 6th day, and irritable if he couldn’t be at the creek by 5 o’clock sharp when he knew Harry would be waiting for him.

Louis noticed, of course. He knew it was a sprite, there was no other option, but Niall wouldn’t listen. Not when Louis read him conspiracies of sprites acting as a succubus or incubus, not when Louis told him of a person who swore they had a half-divine child with a forest sprite, and not when Louis said it happened to his grandfather, making Louis’s father the divine child, and Louis a muddled offspring of mostly human with a touch of something else.

“You’re fucking crazy, Lou,” Niall laughed. “There’s something wrong with you. That shit’s not real. They just told you that shit when you were a kid and you believed it.”

“You don’t fucking get it, Niall! Why would I go this far if I wasn’t serious? Do you _ever_ use a condom with this guy?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Niall sighed in exasperation, shaking his head. He shoved his chair back from the table, took his tea to go, but Louis stopped him with a firm hand on his elbow.

“Don’t you dare get upset with me when a baby shows up on the doorstep.”

“What, are you gonna adopt a fucking baby just to prove a point to me?”

Their glares were strong, unwavering. Dangerous.

“Fuck off, Niall.”

Niall didn’t want to be dramatic, but he did storm away to his room, and only after he heard Louis go to his own bedroom did he quietly creep down the hall and out the door, running as fast as he could to the stump at the end of the path now well known to him.

Except…

Once he arrived, the stump wasn’t so friendly. It was rotted, covered in moss and mushrooms so that Niall couldn’t even sit down. He turned instead to the path, looking for the dirt ground that his feet had worn down, and the leafy plants along the edges that bowed out of his way. Instead he found weeds, thick and thorny, blocking every entrance, scratching and clawing at his skin and clothes until they drew blood and tore holes.

Niall found the creek, though. He convinced himself he had just gone to the wrong stump and through the wrong stretch of forest once he heard the gentle splashing of water, but as he stumbled down the banks and into the murky, calf-high water, he knew something was wrong.

Nothing that he found was right. Not a single bit of it, and his heart sank. He _had_ gone to the correct tree, down the area where his path was meant to be, and this creek… there was only one in the forest.

Niall sat on the rock beside the stream-- not at all as smooth and welcoming as he last saw it-- and thought with his head held in his hands for hours, hoping that maybe he would open his eyes and Harry would be there and everything would be alright, but he was too afraid to test it; too afraid that Louis was right.

Niall nearly fell asleep sitting there, and when he did finally open his eyes, it was only because he heard an owl hoot overhead and it startled him.

It was a dark night so deep in the woods.

When Niall finally trudged back into the house a half hour later, Louis was still in his room, and nothing was said about his ragged, dejected state as he fell into bed.

Niall skipped the next time he was meant to see Harry. It was a Saturday and he could, so he stayed in the house, and didn’t think at all of the shadow passing his window in the moonlight.

The next time was a Friday, and on his way home from work, Niall tried to keep his eyes ahead of him, but when he caught sight of Harry sitting on the stump-- which was again smooth and not rotting at all-- facing the path for once instead of away from it with a frown adorning his face, Niall couldn’t stop staring. He willed himself to look away, but it was too late. The front tire of his bike rolled into a particularly nasty hole in the drive, sending him more or less over the handlebars and onto the ground.

When Niall opened his eyes after rolling onto his back and mentally assuring himself that nothing on his body particularly hurt, he saw Harry kneeled over him, doe eyes glassy, lips pouting.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “I haven’t seen you.”

“Home,” Niall groaned, sitting up. Harry didn’t move, though. He stayed precisely where he was, letting Niall’s face draw nearer and nearer to his own until they met in the middle.

Harry kissed Niall softly in a way they hadn’t done before-- no tongues, no biting, no hands roaming. Just a soft, sweet pressure of their mouths, and then nothing more.

Niall opened his eyes after the kiss and Harry wasn’t there.

He went back to the stump, and his path was not there to explore.

Niall tried one more time to see Harry on the next Thursday, wanting answers after that kiss, after the magic had begun to fade and he could no longer see things the way he once did.

Harry was not at their typical meeting place, but it was though a gate was left open.

Niall wandered in on his own. The grasses closed behind him, but stayed open in front of him, beckoning him in. The creek was loud, the water clear, and Harry’s golden back stood on the other side of the stream.

Niall opened his mouth to speak as his clothed feet led him to the middle of the stream, but his words were lost when Harry turned.

His belly protruded significantly, and his hands cradled its roundness carefully. His breasts _were_ breasts, large and supple and bare; his face was smooth, all sharp lines softened, rounded, and female.

“Harry?” Niall stuttered, sinking to his knees in the water.

The woman delicately rested her chin on her shoulder, the corner of her lips curling up in a smile. Her eyes opened, and they were so green, like the forest itself.

**Author's Note:**

> [Hi, I'm narryblossom on tumblr as well.](http://narryblossom.tumblr.com/) Anon is on if you wanna inbox me about how weird this fic was lmao


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